How to count to 10 in Chinese?

Let’s learn how to count to 10 in Chinese today! And what better place to start then numbers 1 through 10? Today we’ll teach out how to pronounce each Chinese number, do the correct hand gesture, and even write out the character itself!

First, watch the video below to hear the numbers straight from the mouths of our top teacher, YaoAn!

Count to 10 in Chinese and Pinyin

Ok, hope you enjoyed the video. Now below we’ve written out the numbers in Chinese, Pinyin, and English.

1 一 yī one

2 二 èr two

3 三 sān three

4 四 sì four

5 五 wǔ five

6 六 lìu six

7 七 qī seven

8 八 bā eight

9 九 jiǔ nine

10 十 shí ten

Count from 10 to 19 Chinese

So how do you say a number like elevent (11) in Chinese? The Chinese number system is based on intervals of ten. To say eleven, you just take the number 10 (shí 十) and put 1 (一 yī) after it. Eleven is written as “十一” (shí yī), simply combining 10 and 1 together.

This same logic applies for all numbers from 11-19. See the tabel below of how to write a few examples of Chinese teen numbers.

Number

Equation

Chinese

Pronunciation

12 =

10 十 + 2 二

十二

shí èr

13 =

10 十 + 3 三

十三

shí sān

15 =

10 十 + 5 五

十五

shí wǔ

Counting above 20 in Chinese!

The number system actually stays equally logical as it gets higher and higher. The number for 20 is just “two ten” or 二十 èr shí. The number for 21 one is just two ten one or 二十一 èr shí yī. Easy, huh. Well, congratulations! You’re well on your way to learning all the numbers in Chinese.

Count together with a Chinese Tutor

Think you’ve got the Chinese numbers down? Try them out with a real Chinese tutor in a free class from Tutormandarin.